Cops disable mobile data services for two days

Police commissioner Ravinder Kumar Singhal said that apart from the disabling of mobile data services, people have been told to remove the stickers of political parties and communities they belong to from their vehicles.

TNN

October 12, 2016, 08:21 IST

Police commissioner Ravinder Kumar Singhal said that apart from the disabling of mobile data services, people have been told to remove the stickers of political parties and communities they belong to from their vehicles.

Mobile service providers informed their subscribers about the police diktat through SMSes. "Data services have been kept off from Monday morning as per instructions," sources in Idea Cellular Service said.

When contacted, sources in Vodafone avoided commenting on the issue but said they too had kept their data services temporarily off.

BSNL general manager S Prajapati said, "Due to the law-and-order problem, we have been asked to keep the data services disabled. Depending upon the situation, there are chances that these could be restored at night."

Citizens faced a tough time communicating on Monday but gave mixed reactions to the decision. "Social media is very fast and effective; hence it was banned. But many people use mobile data for work and they have been handicapped," said Anand Patil, an entrepreneur.

Sushil Pande, a student, wondered why the public was being made to suffer because of the actions of some mischief makers. Pranali Shinde, who works in a multinational company, said, "Many people depend on mobile data for their work. Two days of disruption will affect them a lot. Let the government impose some regulation on social media rather than blocking it," she said.

Raghav R, an IT engineer said, "Disabling mobile data has affected many people. Rather than disabling the data services, the government should have warned people to refrain from posting anything that could disturb the law-and-order situation."

Sudhir Date, a trader, said there was no reason for people to get jittery about the disconnection of mobile services. "If they need it so badly, they can use broadband services. Laptops and computers are accessible anywhere. People will make phone calls rather than depend on social media for information," he said.

Jio’s Rs 2,399 annual plan offers 2GB per day data that costs effectively Rs 200 per month. It also offers unlimited voice and SMS. Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s Rs 2398 and Rs 2399 annual plans, on the other hand, offer 1.5GB per day data along with unlimited voice and SMS